Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

I made these cookies about a month ago when I threw my girls’ night/guys’ night party. Something about the dulce de leche just seemed a perfectly indulgent and sophisticated spin on sandwich cookies. I knew these were going to be good, but honestly they blew me away. The cookies themselves are so unassuming – little, flat golden brown cookies. They don’t look like anything special at all. But I made them a couple of days before filling them for the party, and they were in very real danger of being demolished before the day arrived. In fact, I had to resort to letting Ben put them on a shelf I couldn’t reach (AKA the caramel corn strategy). Sandwiched with a thin layer of dulce de leche really put them over the top. The flavor was amazing and they looked beautiful. The original recipe makes a huge, huge number of cookies – more than I think anyone could ever possibly need, so I have halved the recipe below.

Ingredients

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. dulce de leche, plus more for filling (1 can)
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup sugar
1 large egg

Directions

01
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir with a fork to blend.
02
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until soft and smooth. Mix in the 6 tablespoons dulce de leche, and both the brown and white sugars. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. (The mixture may look curdled – don’t worry.) With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.
03
Spoon the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, using a heaping teaspoon of dough for each cookie and leaving 2 inches between them. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking time. The cookies should be a golden honey brown with a light crust, but they will still be soft. Remove the cookies from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Using a metal spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.
04
Once the cookies are completely cool, pair them up by size. Spread the flat side of one cookie from each pair with a small amount of dulce de leche, and top with the other cookie. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

Source

adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan